The Running Doctor
by YoungestSolo
Summary: After the Time War, the Doctor has to learn to deal with the pain.
1. Chapter 1

The doors of the TARDIS slammed shut at his command.

Running through the halls of the ship, a man wiped tears off of his angular face. Tears were rare for him, but these droplets of anger and frustration refused to be contained. They ate away at the ragged threads holding his mind together, and soon they broke them entirely.

The Doctor slumped against a wall, far from the heart of his beloved craft, and nearly suffocated with regret.

He had been on the planet Uriah, to try and clear his mind of the events that had just transpired. The War had ended, but there was no victory for either side. He had fought, willing to fall with the Timelords. Fate had different plans, though, and wrest him from the battle, claiming him as its champion. The lone survivor. He wanted to forget, he was ready to die, and that was how he found himself sitting on the edge of Uriah's highest cliff, contemplating leaning forward and simply...falling. Ending. Escaping the madness he was the crux of.

As he sat on the precipice, a shadow fell over his knees, and a hand touched his shoulder.

"Excuse me?"

The Doctor, hearing the sound, turned around. He had thought he was alone up here, inhaling the high, thin air. Contradicting his belief, though, was a boy, looking to be about twelve. He was short, with hair growing past his ears and an unwashed face.

"Yes?" he replied, his grief overpowered for a moment by curiosity.

"Why are you here?" the boy asked, staring at the worn face below him. "No one's supposed to be up here. It's too high."

"Well, why are you here then? If nobody's supposed to be?" the Doctor retorted.

"None of them can breathe up here, so they've made laws saying nobody can come up. What if a kid scrabbled up here and found himself suffocating, too far away for help? Technically, we're both committing a crime."

"Laws...have never mattered to me much," the Doctor replied, a smile breaking his face for the first time in a long while. "But you never answered my question. Why are you here, and how can you breathe up here if nobody else can, like you said?"

"I'm different…" the boy said, pulling at his collar. He seemed hesitant to say any more, and his short legs were tensed to run in case the man couldn't be trusted. There were too many who had turned out to be bad already.

"Go on, I won't tell." the Doctor said, trying to reassure the boy.

"Okay, but you have to promise."

"How do I promise?" Promises came in so many different forms, and he wanted to get it right with this one. It wouldn't do to scare the boy with the windblown brown hair off. He liked him, and he had a sense of familiarity when he looked at him.

"We lock thumbs," the boy said, holding his hand out in a thumbs-up.

"I promise not to tell a soul what you're about to tell me," the Doctor said, curling his long thumb around the boy's short, grimy one.

"All right. I live up here. I used to live in the buildings down there-" he gestured to the distant ground- "but the people who I was living with got taken and I ran away up here 'cause I had nowhere else to go. I found out I could breathe the air, and I've acclimated to it over the last few years. Sometimes I steal down to the village and get supplies, 'cause I can run real fast there on account of the air being thicker."

"They got taken? Who took them?" The Doctor asked, truly engaged in the boy's story.

"I never found out, but my brother's looking for 'em. He's in a gang that's trying to find other people that got taken, too, but they wouldn't let me in, and so I couldn't stay with him. Otherwise I'd still be down there, in school and stuff. That's the only thing, I miss, school. I was really good at math, but there's not much of it to do up here."

The boy was more of a talker than the Doctor could have envisioned. With no family connections, no real home, and only the responsibility of his own survival, he'd be a good candidate for the TARDIS! He looked to have a knack for staying out of trouble, and a few adventures would be good for him...and possibly good for the emotionally scarred Timelord too.

"You forgot to mention something," the Doctor said, looking at the boy. "I can't just think of you as 'boy' or 'kid' in my head all the time. What's your name?" The man corrected himself. "If I may ask, of course. I'm not going to make you tell me."

"Sorry, I should have stuck that in there somewhere." He grinned, liking the mysterious stranger more and more. "My name's Adric."


	2. Chapter 2

**This is my first published fanfic! Please leave reviews, and I'll try to update often. However, don't think the rate of the updates depends on whether I get reviews-I hate when people withhold content just to get feedback on previous chapters.**

**I'll try and extend chapter lengths later, and keep in mind this is quite rough. I don't have a beta...nor would I want one at this point.**

**One more thing. The cover of the story is an image of Chris Eccleston in The Borrowers, and that's how I'm imagining him while I write. Hasn't been taking care of himself, forgot to shave, fresh off the Time War. Happens to be bearded. Feel free to keep that sort of look in your head through the rest of this.**

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Adric?

How could this boy possibly be Adric? Adric was born in the 32nd century, and not even on this planet, nor even this universe! It had to be a coincidence, of course. But a boy who was a genius at math and had a teenage brother in a gang could only be his Adric.

"This probably sounds daft, but are you absolutely sure your name is Adric?" the Doctor asked, disbelieving his ears. He stood up from his perch on the edge of the cliff and began to pace.

"Yeah, it's been my name all my life." the boy- no, Adric- replied.

"And if you don't mind me asking, what century is this?"

"32nd, of course! Say, you never told me your story. Sir."

It was the 32nd century, but he was still in the wrong universe. Obviously, this wasn't E-space. So was this the Adric of _this_ universe? He might have only grew up on Alzarius in the parallel one. Then this could be Adric, but not the one the Doctor knew. Not the one that would die for him, but cause the rise of humanity in the process. Not the Doctor's Adric...

But an Adric who could live to old age. A mathematical genius who could advance his entire planet, who could find his parents and live a happy, normal life.

This was the Adric who could go on adventures with the Doctor and have the time of his life, see the turn of the universe, and give the last of the Timelords one of the only second chances he'd ever get!

"Sir?"

"Yes, Adric?" the Doctor replied, feeling how the name tasted on his lips again. It no longer had a bitter tinge to it, as it had in the days following the demise of the Cyberman freighter.

"I don't know who you are." Adric stated, coming back into the Doctor's view. "You know my story, but I don't even know your name."

"I'm the Doctor," he said, kneeling down to the short boy's height. "I'm not from around here."

"I figured _that_ out already...Doctor."

The Doctor took a deep breath, making the final decision. "I have my own ship, you know."

"You do? Does it work? Where is it?"The boy lit up. Adric knew of many people who had their own crafts, but they had entire crews to man them and keep them running. The Doctor was obviously alone.

"Of course it works!" The Doctor answered indignantly. "And it's just on the other side of the mountain, down a ways."

"Could I see it? I swear I won't touch anything. I've never been inside a ship." The boy was bouncing on his toes with anticipation. "I've done research on starships before, though. What kind do you have? How far does it go? What type of fuel does it use? Is it really big?"

The Doctor smiled at the last question, and out his hand on Adric's shoulder to calm him down. "I'll let you see it, and then I think a few of those questions'll be answered. Here, follow me."

Adric grinned, and began to walk after the Doctor.

As they got around the curve of the mountain, the familiar blue box came into sight. For the Doctor, it was a welcome relief to see- the first time he had met Adric, it ended up being carried off by marsh-men- but it puzzled the boy with limited knowledge of dimensional transcendentalism.

"What, is it only a one-seater?" The boy asked, disappointed. His hopes of seeing the stars fell. He wanted to get a ride, of course, but not if he had to sit on this leather-jacketed man's lap the whole time! What sort of adventure was that?

"Don't worry, there'll be room," the Doctor said, seemingly reading his thoughts. He stepped ahead, opened the door with a flourish, and gestured inside to the dark interior. Adric stepped inside, hands out, expecting to trip over a seat…

...but instead found himself staring at the massive console room of the TARDIS, impossibly big for the space it occupied.

"Whoa!"

It never got old, that wonder. Everyone felt it when opening the worn wooden doors of his TARDIS, but getting the chance to see it again on Adric's face was incredible.

Adric was now running around the console room, almost to make sure it was real. He stopped in front of the now-wistful Timelord, voicing his thoughts, unable to keep them to himself.

"Bigger on the inside! Okay…" He thought hard for a few seconds, in the comical way a child might think when asked a question about philosophy. "It's got to exist on a different plane of reality then, right! The outside of the ship and the inside are actually not the same, they're just sort of layered on top of each other? Does that make sense?" Looking at the Doctor expectantly, he took in the man's stunned expression. "Oh. Am I really that off?"

"No, no, you're completely right! Usually people who come in here don't figure it out in such technical terms, though. I'm impressed!" He really was, honest. He had tried to explain it to a companion or two before, but Adric grasped it the moment he stepped inside. So much for being a simple village boy! The boy at his feet beamed, proud to have figured out the concept. But the Doctor wondered where he could have mastered such an advanced principle at his age.

"Adric, where'd you learn that?" He had gotten a glimpse of the local school on the way up, and it didn't seem to be incredibly equipped for sophisticated teaching.

"I do a lot of reading, I guess. I take books up here and study every night, because if I ever get to go anywhere I don't want to be stuck with the knowledge of a seven-year-old, do I?" He grinned wider, if that was possible for the boy at that point. Even though he had never been in this sort of environment before, Adric was in his element. "Plus, you know, it's interesting!"

The Doctor walked behind him to lean on the TARDIS console. "Adric, I have a proposal for you."

"Two trips. Anywhere in time and space. I did mention that this was a time machine, right? Probably not, judging by the look on your face. You can go to any time, any place, but you have to at least try to say out of trouble- I've had companions who weren't very good at that- and listen to me. Do you think you can handle it?"

"Yes, of course I can!" Overcome, the boy hugged him, and the Doctor awkwardly patted him on the back. Hugs had never been his strong suit. Adric soon let go and looked at the Timelord.

"So," the Doctor asked, turning to the console, "Where shall we go?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Yay for reviews (and followers, too)! Thanks to Yhoretta, especially, for pointing out some important things to keep in mind. Oh, and see if you can spot the Star Trek reference. Happy New Year!**

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The ship gave an almighty thump, and shut off abruptly.

"No, no, no!" the Doctor cried, and frantically sprinted around the TARDIS console, jacket flapping behind him.

"Doctor, what's wrong?" Adric asked, trying to follow the Doctor's rapid movements. "Have we landed?"

"No, we haven't landed!" He stopped his frenzied activity for a moment, and cupped an ear upwards. "Actually, I think it's the other way 'round. Why must I always neglect those damn shields?" he asked himself, slamming the console with his palm.

"You mean to say something's landed on _us_?" the boy inquired nervously, and began backing towards the center of the room, gazing about as if he was looking for dents in the curved ceiling. Footsteps, perhaps?

"It could be a creature, it could be another ship, it could be a horde of those parasites from Deneva, but we can't know unless we look. It either has the capabilities of draining our power, explaining the loss of energy, or it just hit us hard enough to knock out a few key circuits."

"If we don't have any power, we can't use the computer to get a look."

"No, but I suppose I could just stick my head out the door, right?

"Er, Doctor, I don't suppose you're aware that space doesn't have any air?"

"Adric, calm down! The TARDIS can generate a sort of…bubble, so we can open the doors and y' know, not die. And I have a spare spacesuit or two if that doesn't work out." He remembered his time spent outside the Urbankan ship and shuddered. Even if that spacewalk was a few incarnations back (his fifth, specifically), he had absolutely no desire to repeat the experience again.

"So, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go have a peek outside."

"Doctor, isn't there another option? I mean, we could try to shake it off or something."

"Quit dramatizing the situation! Honestly, I'll just open the doors quick, poke my nose out, and hope anything isn't poking out at _me_."

The Doctor strode over to the wooden doors, opened them, and then slammed them shut as if something had burned him and slumped to the floor.

"What's wrong? Are you all right?" Adric asked, rushing over and peering at the folded figure, who was breathing hard, head on his knees.

"There...wasn't...an air bubble," he gasped out, opening his eyes. "Loss of pressure outside...threw me off...a little, but I'll be fine."

"I told you we should have tried to shake it off!" Adric cried indignantly. "I may not have much space experience, but I know how to deal with bad guys. Trust me, I've had my fair share!"

"Adric, we can't throw it off, either. For the same reason there wasn't an air bubble for me to breathe from-we've lost power. I thought the air pocket was an organic part of the TARDIS, like a few other key components, but it looks like I was wrong." Seldom was the Doctor wrong about his ship, but then again, seldom was he forced to step into the emptiness of space. "I suppose I'll have to go on a hunt for a spacesuit."

The search would be made more difficult by the craft's loss of power. Most lights were down, with the exception of the console room, due to the limited supply of reserve power, which was draining along with the rest. Databanks would take too much energy to power up, and so the suit could not simply be 'looked up' by the ship's internal computer. It was down to good old torches.

"I want you to stay here," the Doctor stated as he grabbed a spare torch from under the console. "This ship is far too large and if we get split up in the dark…" He shuddered. "Just stay in this room, all right?"

"But-" Adric wasn't allowed to finish his sentence, as the other being had already run off down the darkened corridors of the ship.

Adric leaned against the console and watched the ceiling for activity. The thumping had stopped, though he could still tell there was _something_ out there.

But that was the problem with such an adventure as this. Traveling with a man he didn't know, through all of time and space (or at least two spots, as agreed) had its drawbacks, as many of the Doctor's companions had learned before him. The Doctor had a way of making people feel hopelessly inadequate, even unintentionally. And so Adric was faced with a dilemma: should he do as the Doctor said, and stay in the console room, inactive? Or should he take a chance and try to impress him a little bit? No, not impress. Should he prove himself?

Proving was the nobler route, although riskier. As long as he stayed where he was, he wouldn't technically be disobeying the Doctor's orders, right?

Adric thought for a second, and then realized that even if he was stuck in the console room, he was stuck in the _console room_. What better place to stay than the nexus of the entire TARDIS?

And what better problem to solve than the problem of energy supply- the thing that meant the Doctor would have to risk his life? However insufficient Adric felt around the Doctor, the man was his ride home, and therefore his responsibility to protect as well as he could.

Adric laid down under the ship's indicator panel and got to work. The wiring was not of the material he was used to, but was arranged in much the same way his books back on the mountain showed. Engineering was just an advanced visual mathematical concept, and if the boy thought of it like that, the work would fly by in no time.

He bound together the last frayed wire he could find, and waited for the lights to brighten and the dials to spin.

But instead, he heard a voice, radiating from the center of the ship, calling his name.


End file.
